Untitled NozoEli Story
by tried-to-write
Summary: Nozomi confesses but runs away before Eli can reply. Years later they meet unexpectedly but this time Nozomi can't run away again. Will they confront their feelings or will they just pretend that the confession never happened?
1. Chapter 1

It was early in the evening and the sun was starting to set. Only the top half of the sun peeked out from the horizon and lit the sky with a bright orange glow. It was late April and it was the last day of school for the third years.

Two long-time best friends were walking home together from Otonokizaka High for presumably the last time after a mini graduation party hosted by the new student council president and her vice presidents. The whole of μ's was there to attend the party along with other specially invited guests such as their various family members and Hideko, Fumiko and Mika.

The third year trio had a pleasant surprise when they walked into the rearranged clubroom to find all their friends there to celebrate their graduation and was thankful for the party.

Soon it was late in the afternoon and they had to leave the school to go home lest they be locked in. The members of μ's decided to walk home together for one last time while the rest went on ahead. They chatted happily about various things as the group of nine walked home together.

As they reached a fork in the path, Nozomi and Eli had to split from the rest to go home. They all shared a hug as they held back restrained tears to prevent the moment from turning into a bawling event.

As the lively chatter from the other seven faded out, the two best friends settled into a comfortable silence. Usually, they would be talking about random things but they felt like they should appreciate the peacefulness this time instead.

It wasn't long before they reached the next section where they had to split. Nozomi spoke up, surprising Eli who had also just opened her mouth to say goodbye.

"Ericchi, I..." Nozomi paused and bit her lip, clearly hesitant to continue. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. "I have something to tell you." She said in a more serious tone.

Eli frowned at the serious look on her usually playful best friend's face.

"What is it, Nozomi? You can tell me anything," Eli said in an attempt to comfort her friend in some way.

"P-promise me, Ericchi, promise me that no matter what you won't hate me?"

Eli felt worried. Nozomi sounded genuinely scared that she would destroy their friendship with what she was about to reveal. _It must be a really serious thing, _Eli thought, _but whatever it is, I'm sure that it wouldn't change anything._

"I promise that whatever you say, I won't hate you." Eli replied with a confident smile. She was, however, not prepared for what Nozomi was about to say next.

"Ericchi... I... I love you! And not in the best friends way either!"

"... E-eh?"

"I... I want to hold you and touch you and kiss you and do all the other things lovers do together!" Nozomi blurted out, months of pent up emotion finally being let out.

Eli was speechless. She had not expected that at all. Nozomi's sudden confession had stunned her and she had no idea how to react.

Nozomi took Eli's lack of reaction as rejection. Tears started leaking from her eyes and she hastily turned around and ran.

Eli stood rooted at her spot, staring blankly at the purple haired girl's back as she ran further and further away from her until she disappeared into the horizon. Eli wanted to run after her but she herself did not know her own feelings and wouldn't know what to say if she did catch up to her.

Eli snapped out of her confusion after a while and decided to go back home. Her mind replayed the scene that had just occurred over and over again.

When she reached home, she half-heartedly greeted Arisa who had been eagerly waiting for her return as she trudged up the stairs to her bedroom. Arisa was left with a slightly hurt and confused look which the older blonde did not notice.

Questions were raging furiously throughout Eli's mind, the most prominent one being _'Do I love Nozomi the same way?'_

* * *

><p>This question repeated itself in Eli's head while she lay in bed face up, arm on her forehead as she stared at the ceiling trying to figure out an answer to the question refusing to leave her alone.<p>

She thought back to her earlier conversation with Arisa after dinner.

_"Nee-chan, are you okay?"_

_"Ah? Yeah I'm fine."_

_"Are you sure? You've been acting weirdly since you've got home."_

_"Y-yeah it's nothing. I'm just... Thinking about something."_

_There was silence between them for a moment before Arisa suddenly exclaimed, slamming a fist down on her other open hand. _

_"Ah, I got it now! You got in a fight with Nozomi nee-chan didn't you?"_

_"H-huh? What m-makes you say that? I-I have n-no idea what you're t-talking about."_

_Eli stuttered out in defense, nervously looking away. Arisa just smiled proudly. _

_"Ah-ha! I knew it! You only look this distressed when it has something to do with Nozomi nee-chan. What is it? You can tell me anything."_

_Arisa looked up at Eli with big, shining eyes, expectantly waiting for her older sister to spill her troubles. Eli could only blush as she wondered, is Nozomi really that important to me?_

_Eli turned to look at Arisa and gave a defeated sigh. Knowing how persistent her sister was, she wouldn't leave her alone unless she told her what happened. _

_"You see... Today when we were walking home, she kind of told me... a secret... about herself and I'm not sure how I feel about it and she maybe, kind of... ran off... because she thought I hated her..."_

_Eli slowly spoke, rephrasing the situation as best as she could to not reveal too much. Her sister had her head down, eyes closed and eyebrows furrowed, thinking deeply about what Eli had said before suddenly opening her eyes and looking up with a frown. She dramatically pointed at Eli._

_"Onee-chan!"_

_Startled by her sister's outburst, Eli immediately sat up straight._

_"Y-yes!"_

_"You should apologize to Nozomi nee-chan!"_

_"H-huh?"_

_"For three years she's been your best friend and only friend, might I add, until μ's came along, how could you let such a silly thing ruin your friendship? She told you a secret right? She must have needed to gather a lot of courage to do such a thing and now she thinks you hate her because of it... she must be really hurting right now!"_

_"Y-you're right! I should go apologize to her now!" _

_Eli quickly stood up and moved towards the door._

_"A-ah, nee-chan! I-it's too late to go now! She's probably already asleep!"_

_After Eli settled down, they decided that it was time for them to sleep too. As they went up the stairs, Eli called out to her younger sister. _

_"Arisa..."_

_"Yes, nee-chan?"_

_Eli gave a huge warm smile to her sister. _

_"Thank you."_

_Arisa's eyes widened a bit before she returned the smile with a huge bright grin. _

_"You're welcome, onee-chan."_

Eli subconsciously smiled at the memory. She was really grateful to Arisa for helping her out. She thought back to the topic of their conversation again.

_Nozomi..._

"She's always been there for me and is always able to put up with my stubbornness. She was my first friend here and probably the only one who has ever understood me. She is my best friend and I love her."

_But do I love her in that way?_

And with that they were back to square one. However, one thing Eli was sure of now was that she didn't want to lose Nozomi as a friend.

* * *

><p>Eli marched out of the house determinedly. She had already decided to continue being Nozomi's best friend and she was going to keep to that decision. She could also figure out her feelings in the meantime and hopefully be able to answer Nozomi's confession properly. Who knows, she could even return those feelings. Eli blushed at the thought of the two of them being a couple.<p>

_Holding hands... going on dates... maybe even k-kissing_? Eli's face flushed an even deeper scarlet as an image of her and Nozomi kissing popped into her mind.

She slapped herself and internally berated herself for thinking such thoughts.

_B-besides, I still haven't figured out my feelings for her yet..._

* * *

><p>Eli finally stood outside the door to her best friend's apartment. She fidgeted nervously as she glanced at the familiar sight of the slightly peeling wallpaper and the old worn out door in front of her. She reached a finger out to ring the doorbell. As her finger slowly approached the small round button, she could hear her heart beating madly in her ears and feel the waves of doubt creeping on her. She quickly shot her finger forward to press the doorbell before she could actually change her mind.<p>

She anxiously waited for Nozomi to answer the door, mentally prepping herself for what to say to the other girl when she appears. After a few minutes, Eli started to panic. _Why is Nozomi taking so long to answer the door? _She rang the doorbell again and waited for another few minutes. _She's probably just still sleeping or something. There's no need to worry..._ Eli could tell that she was doubting her own words and tried her best to quell her rising panic. She knocked on the door instead this time and called out Nozomi's name for extra measure_. W-what if she's a-avoiding me? O-or what if she injured herself?_ Eli started to imagine all the worse possible situations Nozomi could have gotten in. With each new worry, she started to knock even more frantically and even got to the point of banging on the door and yelling, "Nozomi! Are you okay?"

Eli froze when she heard the door from the next apartment open, her hand halfway to the door in front of her. _Shit, did I wake her neighbours up? _

Eli had not been able to sleep the entire night, plagued with thoughts about her best friend's confession and as a result had gone over fairly early, wanting to get it over with as soon as possible. Overcome with worry for her best friend, she had forgotten that the other residents might have still been sleeping and did not consider that her actions might wake them up.

She slowly turned her head to face the open door to her right. As expected, the head popping out of the beige door wore an irritated expression at being woken up so rudely. She glared icily at the quarter Russian blonde for a moment before stating in an annoyed tone,

"If you're looking for that big-boobed girl, she left a message for you. She's already moved out to join her parents in Germany or something."

With that, she slammed her door close, grumbling to herself under her breath about how "kids these days are so inconsiderate".

Eli's heart sank.

_Is it my fault?_

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: **_If ya'll have any suggestions for a title that'd be great (I suck at titles I don't know how all those other authors can come up with such great titles). This is my second fanfic pls don't bite (too hard). My first is a oneshot I posted on my tumblr so yeah go check that out too if you're interested (my tumblr is of the same name). Also for those of you who don't know, Hideko, Fumiko and Mika are those three girls that are always helping them in the anime ye :D


	2. Chapter 2

**-8 years later-**

"Could you tilt your head up a bit more? And move your hand just slightly to the left. Yeah, just like that! That's great!" Nozomi shouted out orders as the model in front of her complied and changed her pose accordingly.

Nozomi quickly took some pictures when the model got into the right position, the noise of the camera shutters drowned out by the surrounding hustle and bustle of the crew.

"And... that's a wrap!"

Nozomi turned off her camera and placed it into the leather pouch slung around her neck. She went forward to shake the model's hand, the latter doing the same.

The model had lustrous brown wavy hair that cascaded past her shoulders, stopping right below her breasts. Her large eyes were a bright lime green, emphasized by the light purple eye shadow and violet eye-liner applied wonderfully by the make-up artist. She had a cute button nose with full lips curving up to reveal dimples. Her cheeks were covered with a light pink blush. She wore a strapless frilly satin green dress that reached down to right below her knees, revealing smooth spotless skin, and long legs that led to beige high heels which matched her skin tone and made her slightly taller than Nozomi.

"It was nice working with you, Toujou-san," the model said as they shook hands.

"You were a pleasure to work with too, Izumi-han," Nozomi good-naturedly replied.

"If you don't mind, would you like to join me and some of my colleagues for dinner tonight?" Izumi asked when they separated.

Nozomi thought about it for a while. _Well, why not?_

* * *

><p>Nozomi settled down on the comfy leather couch in her living room, glad to finally be able to rest her tired aching feet after a long tiring day at work. Dinner had ended up a bit crazy with most of them getting drunk and one of them had even tried to hit on her. <em>The yakiniku there was great though. I should visit again some other time. <em>

She propped her feet up on the wooden coffee table in front of the couch while simultaneously picking up the TV remote controller lying beside a bowl of apples on the table to turn on her Samsung UHD television, the speakers on both sides of it automatically turning on at the same time. She took an apple and bit out a sizable chunk as she flipped channels. It gave out a loud, satisfying crunch that prompted Nozomi to continue biting into it. By the time she found a channel she liked, she had already finished eating the apple, save the core which she expertly threw into the nearby dustbin. The advertisements had just came on when her phone rang, its ringtone permeating through the noise coming from the television. Nozomi groaned in displeasure. She had left her phone on the bedside table in her bedroom and was too lazy to go answer it after getting so comfortable on her couch. After a few seconds of incessant ringing, Nozomi decided that it could be an important call and went to pick up her phone. She turned off the television and slowly got up. She immediately missed the comfort of her couch and could feel the ache return to her feet again. She trudged into her bedroom and grabbed the phone vibrating on the table. She plopped down on her bed as she pressed the button to answer the call.

"Hello? This is Toujou Nozomi speaking." Nozomi fought to keep a professional tone instead of just shouting at the person on the other side of the line for disturbing her rest time.

"Good evening, Toujou-san. Sorry to disturb you so late. I am Takashi Yamato from Star Magazine and we are looking for talented photographers like you to join us for a photo-shoot taking place next month. You would be working with a new and upcoming model from Russia, Lia, and, the also recently starting fashion designer duo, NiTori. There will be a meeting tomorrow morning for you to get acquainted with each other. We will also be discussing more details about the photo-shoot. If you are interested, please tell me your email address and I will send an email containing all the necessary details about the meeting later."

Nozomi perked up at this. Star Magazine was really popular among teenagers these days. Not to mention, NiTori's clothes had shown up on a few fashion magazines she had seen and she had to admit that they were really good. Nobody knows how they look like or who they are since they refuse to reveal their identity though.

This was quite a last minute arrangement but this was also the golden opportunity for her career and Nozomi could not refuse. She told Yamato her email address and heard the faint sounds of lead scratching on paper from the other end.

"Thank you very much! I shall email you the details in a short while. Have a good day."

Nozomi let out a huge sigh when she heard the monotonous beeping coming from the earpiece indicating that the caller had hung up. A few minutes later, her phone buzzed as it received a notification that she had a new email.

She opened it up and began to skim through the email. Her eyes almost bulged out in surprise as she noticed the time the meeting would start.

_7am?! That's way too early! And the place isn't that near either,_ Nozomi mentally complained.

Nozomi was not going to pass up this job anytime soon though. She put her phone back on the table and leaned back onto the headboard. She stared blankly at the ceiling.

_I guess I should do some research on Lia and NiTori._

Nozomi looked up to glance at her laptop sitting on the white work table on the opposite end of the room and felt the ache in her feet return tenfold.

_Or maybe not… _

Nozomi felt her eyes begin to droop. She felt really sleepy all of a sudden. She laid down on the bed and pulled the covers over her body. Closing her eyes and snuggling deeper into her pillow, she drifted off to sleep.

_I'll do a search on them tomorrow…_

* * *

><p><em>Oh no! It's already 6.15am! <em>

Nozomi quickly got into the bathroom to have a quick shower and brush her teeth. When she was done, she quickly put on a plain black blouse with a light beige cotton skirt and dashed out of the house, almost forgetting to lock the door. She mentally cursed herself for not getting a driver's license as she tried to hail a taxi. A few taxis passed by her before she finally got one to stop. She told the driver her destination as she hastily got in.

When she arrived, she passed him a bunch of bills, telling him to keep the change as she quickly ran into the building. A security guard stopped her but let her go after Nozomi told him what she was there for. She spotted the lift door closing in the distance. She sprinted there as fast as she could and stuck her foot between the doors just in time to prevent it from fully closing. She was thankful as the doors slowly opened again that there was no one else in the lift that could see how crazy she looked with her hair and clothes in a mess. She glanced down at her watch. _6.55am. Good, I still have 5 minutes left. _Nozomi took the time to tidy up her appearance and make herself presentable for the meeting.

She smoothened down the hair that stuck up from the mad dash earlier and took out her red hair tie from her right pocket. She combed through her hair with her fingers before tying it up with the red hair tie. She then took out two equally red clips from her left pocket and clipped up her fringe that had been covering her right eye. She straightened her blouse with one hand and used her other hand to smoothen out any wrinkles that had formed on it.

The lift let out a _'ding!' _as it reached her designated floor. She stepped out of the lift and took her time searching for the meeting room, giving herself more time to calm her breathing. Soon, she found the door that had a brass plate on it with the words **Meeting Room 04 **engraved on it. She took another peek at her watch. _6.59am, just in time._

She felt her hands shake as she reached out to open the door. She was starting to get nervous but she ignored it. She took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

Her eyes widened when she saw the familiar figure in front of her.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: **_I love cliffhangers, don't you? Sry for taking so long to update tho, school's been kind of a bitch y'know? (i s2g i literally spend more time in sch than at home)

Thanks _Kumiko-chii_ and _Crimson_ for your title suggestions but um I'm looking for sth different..? But i guess that's my fault cos ya'll can't really tell what the  
>story's about from the first chapter oops sry bout that. Thanks all you others for your reviews, favs and follows too! I welcome more suggestions ayy ヽ(○･▽･○)ﾉﾞ<p>

Uhm I don't really know anything about fashion or make-up so if their clothes or make-up are kinda weird then yeah sry... Constructive criticism welcomed :D

Also big thanks to my bff, tried-to-art, for the wonderful cover art (go check out her tumblr of the same name ye)


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